


Tomorrow's Generation:  Reaching Out

by yinyang2261



Category: The Tomorrow People (1973), The Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 19:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11835432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yinyang2261/pseuds/yinyang2261
Summary: Summary: New powers. New friends. New life. Just what has Lisa been up too lately?DISCLAIMER: The characters of Lisa Davis, Adam Newman, Megabyte, Kevin Wilson, General Damon and Col. Masters are the property of Thames Entertainment and Nickelodeon. Job Smith, Bianca Rivera, 'Scooter', Todd Jones, Jason Ripley and Tina 'T' Watson are characters of mine.Authors Notes: Well, here I go again. Trying to expand a character that was only seen in the first season. Always thought it was odd for a TP to not keep in contact with another TP. In the original series it was just explained (Carol and Kenny) or assumed (Tyso and Stephen) that they went to the Trig. Can't do that with the new series (at least not yet) characters in this time period.  Anyway, here's my take on what's been going on in her life. Enjoy!





	Tomorrow's Generation:  Reaching Out

**Author's Note:**

> A Tomorrow's Guardians serial

September 3, 1993 New York City  
Lisa Davis eyed the heavy traffic snailing through Times Square. She scoped for the usual primary and secondary openings throughout the street. She knew of at least four alleys that she could cruise through if things got rough. She glanced at the many 'reds' she saw. 'Reds' being the rear stop lights coming from the seven taxi cab pile-up that happened squarely in the middle of the four way intersection.  
She heard a yell from behind and quickly glanced over her shoulder. The double duo of young people were fast coming upon her. The recently turned seventeen year old felt her heart quicken in anticipation of the chase. Checking her backpack straps that held her precious cargo, she jumpstarted her legs, pushing the pedals downward and began her flight towards the very thick of the traffic.  
Weaving and turning and squeezing her way through all manner of vehicles and pedestrians. She used a quick spurt of telekinesis to shut a car door she was fast approaching at a good ten miles an hour. A quick look at that same door and the face plastered against the glass told her that the person was safe from her barreling speed.  
She passed in between two more pedestrians making one of them drop a hot dog onto the others blouse. She inwardly chuckled as she quickly glanced at the woman whose blouse was littered with spilled ketchup and mustard take a swing at her would be attacker.  
The good ole' rotten apple. Gotta love this city!  
Lisa risked another glimpse back and saw that two of her would-be chasers were tangled up with a bunch of pedestrians, but the other duo continued on her course. As she turned back around a sudden wave of concern entered into her mind. Straight ahead of her were more police cars coming in, effectively blocking off her alternate routes.  
What the heck? It was only a bunch of fender benders! Lisa thought. No wonder there's never a cop around when you need one in this city.  
"We're gonna get you Lisa!"  
The seventeen year old quietly cursed at herself for getting distracted by the additional noise and traffic. If she could hear her pursuers that clearly, they weren't more than a good few seconds away from her.  
"There's no way out! Everything's blocked!"  
"Shove it Todd!" she yelled back.  
Unfortunately, the blonde-haired boy was right. With all the added traffic, there was no way she would be able to go in between anything without seriously hurting herself, her bike or somebody else. Catching another glimpse of the taxi car fender benders, a devilishly slow grin began to form on her lips.  
Furiously pumping her legs for more speed, Lisa squeezed through another two cars and used a slight telekinetic assist to boost her way up the trunk of a yellow cab in front of her. She couldn't help but have a maniacal grin as she drove her way on top of the next six taxis using the momentum of her bike and a burst of kinetics when needed before finally jumping off to head down seventh street.  
Lisa took a chance and glanced back to see the drivers cursing at her and then went back to arguing at each other. She saw as her pursuers were bogged down by the emergency crews coming to the seven car fender bender pile up. She turned back around, eyes forward as she weaved and winded her way around the slower moving traffic with her twelve speed. Secure in the knowledge that she had eluded her chasers and she would be the first to get to Carnegie Hall, a self-assured smile formed on her features.  
[[Not bad Lisa!]]  
A smile which quickly disappeared as Lisa rolled her eyes at the annoyingly familiar voice.  
[[As always, you just have me to contend with now!]]  
[[Put your pedal where your mouth is Job!]]  
Lisa immediately urged her taxed legs to pedal harder. She knew if anybody would be able to catch up with her it would be 'Mr. Speedy'.  
"Let's go Lisa! Yeeahh!!"  
Urging her already tired body, Lisa continued to pedal faster, seeing peripherally the cars speedily receding away to the rear. Everything and everybody was a blur of motion. All she could hear was the quick beating of her heart keeping in tune with her legs as they churned the pedals to rotate faster as she slowly edged away from her recent rival.  
Noticing that the right side was miraculously unoccupied, she cut Job off and immediately headed toward it. She quickly saw out of the corner of her eye, the young teen take off to the left. Before she could wonder why he would go toward the slower path, she realized her mistake. Just before her the concrete had been torn up. Dirt was on either side of the fifteen foot ditch. And within that ditch was a hodge-podge of moving hard hats, situated on construction workers. Before she could even think about turning to avoid it, her bike took off from the dirt mound. Barely realizing that using her telekinesis would only use her bike like a missile and hurt somebody, she concentrated on using her newest learned power.  
The men underneath yelled out in surprise and fear as they saw the bike messenger shooting towards them. The supervisor could only stare wide-eyed as he saw the bicycle tires just a scant three feet from his face. He screamed out in fear as he put his arms up to deflect.....a ghost!  
It was as if a breeze blew through all of them as the transparent bike and its passenger passed right through them!  
Lisa still couldn't solidify for fear of coming up too short of the jump. She just prayed that the bikes former momentum would be enough for her to clear the opening and get back to the relative safety of the street. Thankfully it was more than enough and she solidified herself just as her bike landed onto the pavement, almost causing her to lose her balance and fall face-first on the concrete.  
Lisa was still in shock and amazement that her new power could do this when Job was suddenly by her side.  
[[Geez! How do you get so lucky?]]  
[[By not speaking and getting the job done.]]  
Job could only shake his head as Lisa began to pedal away from him. Within minutes they were at the entrance of Carnegie Hall. Lisa immediately jumped off the bike and raced towards the front of the building.  
[[Watch my bike!]]  
Job barely had stopped when he heard the young woman's telepathic shout. Shaking his head, he slowly got off his seat and sat down on the sidewalk, cross-legged.  
"Sure, like that's the only reason I followed you," he muttered.  
***  
Twenty minutes later, Lisa walked out of the world-renowned building and caught Job talking with the others who had been chasing her.  
"Sorry guys. I win! Which means I get to take it all."  
The blonde-haired one who went by the name of Todd walked up to her. His voice pleading.  
"Come on Lisa. It's not like you didn't have help getting your cute butt here at record time."  
Lisa shook her head dramatically. "Nothin' doin'. Besides, I've whipped all your butts before for fun. What makes you think you had a chance anyway?"  
[[Maybe if you would play fair, they might have a chance.]]  
Lisa slowly turned her head to glare at her rival.  
[[And who taught me about living in New York?]]  
Before Job could respond, Todd's friend, a petite strawberry-haired girl who only went by the name 'Scooter' broke in. "There they go again. Giving those goo-goo eyes at each other."  
"Then maybe you shouldn't be staring at the 'Black Knight' so hard then," replied Scooter's female friend.  
"Hey, I'm not the one who gave him the name, oh love-struck one," Scooter said to Tina who sometimes went by the name of 'T'.  
"There go the 'Dynamic Duo', replied the fourth cyclist named Jason. The bald headed teenager of nineteen turned towards Job. "What is it about you anyway?"  
"Well, I think it has something to do with puberty, hormones, the fact that they think I'm pretty dashing. Need I go on or should I start with the long list?" Job asked innocently.  
"Sounds like somebody has got a swelled head. I think another bike race is in order to bring you back down to earth," Lisa told him.  
"Anytime, anywhere," countered Job.  
Todd grasped Job's arm, almost making him lose balance. "Easy man, that's what got you into that mess with Bianca, remember?"  
The sixteen year old made a face as he pushed Todd away. "That's because I underestimated her," he said as he watched her counting her money. "I can admit that, but I'll betcha I would win this time. What do you think Lisa? Ready for a rematch?"  
Job saw the familiar 'time-to-be-by-myself-now' routine on Lisa's face as she surreptitiously eased onto her bicycle and started to pedal off away from the argument that the 'Dynamic Duo' were having. He shook his head as he climbed onto his own seat and started off after her.  
"Hey!" Jason exclaimed. "Where are you two going?"  
"We'll meet you back at the shop!" Job yelled back.  
Oh brother, is he ever whipped. Jason thought.  
'T' let loose one of her dramatic sighs. "I can't stand unrequited love."  
Jason hopped back on his bike, flipping over 'T''s baseball cap. "All love is unrequited. Thought you knew that."  
'T' yelled out as her favorite cap went airborne. She barely caught it before it had a chance to fly out into the constant traffic. The female cyclist then immediately went after her tormentor by flinging herself straight at him, knocking them both to the sidewalk in a tangle of arms and legs.  
Todd and Scooter could only gaze with knowing and exasperated looks.  
"Well, this is going to take a bit. You know those two."  
Todd agreed, "Only too well. There's a sandwich deli a half block away from here. Why don't we grab a bit to eat before heading back to the shop?"  
"Sounds good to me. I know exactly which one you're talking about too."  
Scooter looked at the wrestling pair with obvious disdain.  
"Hey you two WWF wannabe's. We'll be at Fred's Deli around the corner, if you ever wonder what became of us."  
The two teens watched their friends for a moment longer before finally giving up and leaving them to whatever fates that were in store for them. They walked a little ways before Scooter asked Todd a question that had been on her mind for a few weeks.  
"So what do you think about Job and Lisa hooking up?"  
Todd shrugged, "I don't know. Doubt it though. Job is like a boy scout sometimes and Lisa seems to have some sort of agenda of her own."  
Scooter let out a quick laugh. "Well then, you've never seen him quickly dismantle a trio of muggers then. He definitely doesn't have boy-scout fighting skills."  
"Well, I wasn't there when that happened," Todd added. "Don't get me wrong, they're good people, but just odd sometimes. Besides, they're completely opposite of what each other wants. Job acts like the whole world is new to him while Lisa is trying to get away from it."  
The strawberry-haired teenager nodded her head sadly. "Well, aren't we all?"  
Todd took time to mull about her question. "I guess so."  
***  
"Well, looks like you got a better grasp of your phasing power," Job remarked.  
The two of them had been cycling for the better part of ten minutes with nary a word spoken between them. Lisa just nodded as she came to stop at a traffic light.  
Phasing. That was the term that Job applied to it. Lisa had discovered it accidentally three months ago. She was running late for her job so she figured she would just teleport over to the shop, making up for all her lost time. But still being mostly asleep when she finally teleported, something odd had happened. It was like her whole body was taking it's time rematerializing and when she finally did, half her bicycle was somehow stuck inside the pavement in the alley. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out how to pull it out. Job at that time had come looking for her and noticed what had happened. Realizing what she did, he grasped the back wheel and pulled out the whole bike. He later on explained that this power was in some way connected to their teleportation abilities. Something about bringing hyperspace into this reality or becoming hyperspace. She wasn't sure which. He explained later on that the first time he tried it, he wanted to see how long he could do it for but very quickly found himself becoming disoriented and tired. He even went so far as to theorize that if a person phased their body for an indeterminate amount of time that their whole body would eventually break apart, scattering their atoms and molecules everywhere.  
"It seems to get easier everytime I do it," she admitted off-handedly.  
Realizing that she was going to be dragged into a conversation that she wasn't up to, she changed the subject.  
"Look Job, I'm really tired. Can we just get to the shop without having a discussion on anything?"  
"After you, 'your royal bitchness.'  
Lisa gave him a steely gaze before abruptly pedaling away.  
***  
When Lisa had arrived at the shop, the dispatcher gave her a couple papers to sign, confirming that a couple of the packages were delivered. She counted how much she had made before heading back to her apartment. Thanks to the Carnegie Hall run, she had made well over three hundred dollars. For some reason she waited awhile for Job to come into the shop but after passing the time for twenty minutes talking to a couple other associates and realizing that he either went home or was on another run, she finally left.  
Lisa had breezed through traffic as she finally came to the apartment complex that she was living in for the past six months. The sound of thunder overhead caused her to look upward as a string of lightning stabbed itself downward.  
Lisa unlocked the outside door and proceeded to walk the two flights of stairs to her shared apartment. When she had first arrived in New York City, one of the first things she did was to find openings for a roommate. Even though she wouldn't have to worry about money for awhile, it wouldn't hurt to stretch it out for a bit. Living in Manhattan could be very expensive. That was when she had found the bike messaging service. It was quite by accident, but by the end of the day, she had a new job and new apartment sharers.  
Still, it wasn't like she would have to work while in college. But the bike messaging service was a way to physically let out whatever grief and frustration that she was feeling since her mother's passing. Since then she had gone out of her way to avoid using her abilities, unless she really needed them or Job was teaching her something new. The abilities would come in handy when she confronted Col. Masters for the final time. She also resisted keeping in touch with the rest of the telepaths. She still wasn't sure why she had turned her back on them so strongly. Maybe it was her way of dealing with all that had happened the past year.  
Thankfully her mother had seen to it that she would be taken care of until she came to her feet. The insurance money had made things a lot more easier. During her time away from the Tomorrow People, she had gotten her GED, learned how to drive a car and applied to a variety of colleges. It was one of the things that still surprised her. Lisa had always been smart but she hadn't realized the extent of her intellect until she had taken the SAT tests. But regardless of what new activities or abilities she learned, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but think back to the unique friends she had so recently made. Or recently lost. Kevin was the last person he had spoken to from that special clique, and that was two months ago.  
As she got to the door of her apartment, she chided herself for even thinking that the others would understand her reasonings for being in New York. Putting the key to the door, she opened it up to find her female roommate.  
"Hey Bianca."  
"What 'ere girlfriend!" she said. The Brooklyn accent apparent in the teenage girl of Hispanic descent. Somehow, regardless of what mood Lisa was in, she would always crack a smile when Bianca was around. Whether it was the way she spoke or her unswerving positive attitude she didn't know.  
"Gotta get to class ya know? Make myself proud. I fixed up that pasta dish that I saw on that cooking channel. I think it tastes alright."  
Lisa watched as the whirlwind of nineteen years fumbled for her books and stuffed them into her backpack.  
"And I get to be the guinea pig again?" sighed Lisa.  
Bianca Rivera walked briskly to the seventeen year old, putting a conspiratal arm around her shoulders. "Oh nooo. Now we can't have the females of this hooch taste testing anything of such trivial foreign matter now can we?"  
A slight smirk appeared on Lisa's face. "Job?"  
A quick slap on the back of her shoulder almost caused her to loose her balance.  
"Hey! After six months, the gal is finally learning. I swear that boy is worse than the kid on that old cereal commercial. And lest we forget, he lost the bet."  
Lisa very much remembered what that bet entailed and Job was still eager for a bike racing rematch.  
Bianca smiled. "I thought you would remember."  
The energetic second year student proceeded towards her bicycle wheel, noting with obvious concern that Lisa had forgotten to bring hers back up.  
"You forgot your wheel again."  
Lisa nodded, "I know."  
"Don't sweat it. I'll just take your bike. That way you won't have to worry about somebody stealing it."  
The former TP sauntered to the couch and let herself literally fall in it. She yawned and stretched and lazily eyed her roommate.  
"I thought it didn't matter in New York City. Somebody wants something, they'll just go ahead and get it anyway."  
An annoyed look appeared on the Hispanics features. "Don't mean you have to make it any easier girlfriend."  
Uh-oh. Here comes the speech again.  
Lisa was dead on target. Just as Bianca made the familiar hands on hips and began her stern introduction to the slimy bowels of what the real NYC could be, she was bumped by a quick moving door into her rear. Lisa had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing outloud as Bianca let out a loud yelp.  
"Bianca, is there anywhere I can move without your Hispanic butt getting in my way?"  
Bianca made a peculiar look on her face that suggested to Lisa that she was about to deck her other roommate.  
"Watch it Mr. Smith or I'll Hispanically head-butt you back to Washington D.C."  
Job put his own bike wheel in the corner and looked at his long-time roommate oddly. "Why do you think I came from Washington D.C.?"  
An exasperated huff came from the college-bound student. Bianca turned to Lisa, whom apparently didn't understand what she was talking about either.  
"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington? Jimmy Stewart? Fighting government and actually winning? Neither of you have ever heard of it?"  
The negative reactions she received from the two younger teens had her throw up her arms in defeat. She went to retrieve her apartment keys and was ready to walk out the door when she suddenly turned around.  
"Why is it you two can help out with the delicate intricacies of the human mind like it was second nature for my medical classes, but when I mention an old black and white, its like I'm hitting something to you out from left field?"  
Job smiled innocently, "Well, what can I say Bianca? 'It's a wonderful life'."  
Lisa had a sudden, quick memory of Megabyte. It was something the red-haired kid definitely would have said. And a quick shudder ran within as she was very thankful that the two of them hadn't met yet.  
Realizing that she had been baited, Bianca just shook her head and released a wicked looking grin.  
"That's alright movie man. I made some pasta that's just dying to be tasted. Have fun."  
Before Bianca shut the door, Job responded. "How do you know about that movie?"  
"Maybe because I'm a very well-rounded individual who doesn't let anybody tell her what to do or how to act. Have fun with the pasta!" she yelled back.  
Lisa watched Job give out a knowing smile as the door shut closed.  
"She's one tough act to follow," Lisa added.  
Job nodded in agreement. "Comes from the territory. You should ask her sometime instead of sitting on the balcony looking up at the stars all the time."  
Lisa was caught by surprise by her roommates offhanded remark. Her gaze followed him as he went into the kitchen.  
"Don't tell me you're still annoyed that I kicked your butt a couple weeks ago bike-racing? It's not my fault that you said you would eat whatever Bianca served up if you lost."  
"Oh no Ms. Davis," Job replied sarcastically. "Just that its annoying to have a roommate not talk to you because he just happens to have the same special talents that the other has. And the only reason she'll talk is to learn something new. Remember, you barged in on me when I was in the bathroom."  
Lisa did remember. It may have happened two months ago but it seemed like only yesterday. She had a small cup of paint gloss fall in her hair. She would've used the sink but at the time, it still had dirty dishes piled up in it. When she had knocked on the bathroom door asking if Job was decent, and he was, she swung it open suddenly and saw him telekinetically levitating an electric razor, toothpaste and a towel. Later on after the incident, Kevin had made an unexpected appearance in her life. The talk had her temporarily convinced that she should tell him about her abilities as well, but that was as far as it went. Since then, unless she had needed help with some power that she didn't know she had, she had been semi-avoiding him, wanting so much to have a normal life. And it didn't matter how understanding he was to the fact that she had powers like he did, she just didn't want to get too close.  
All of those thoughts had quite suddenly brought out all the memories that she had been avoiding for the past six months and she quickly got angry at him.  
"Job, just stay away from me. I want a normal life."  
The sixteen year old shook his head. "Well, I sure would like your definition of normal when it's obvious that we're the only ones with powers like these."  
To make his point, he levitated a bicycle rim and kinetically started to spin it around like a space station.  
"Stop it! You hear me? Just stop it!"  
Lisa couldn't hold her emotions in check anymore as she finally ran to her room, flinging herself on her bed and began to cry, catching Job completely by surprise.  
Job could only stand where he was at the moment. In the short time he had known Lisa, he had never before seen her this upset. Usually he either saw her in a moody state, or a very thoughtful state as she sat on the balcony. She never said much about her past too much and never mentioned anything about her family. There were actually times when he thought that her past was just as mysterious as his own.  
"Well, I guess this isn't going to get resolved tonight," he muttered.  
His nostrils suddenly catching the unique smell of Bianca's pasta made him temporarily forget Lisa's problems and reminded him of his own. He made a face as he resigned himself to go to the kitchen and try out another one her odd concoctions. He was seriously regretting making that bet with his other female roommate. He was starting to regret letting Lisa occupy the extra bedroom they had. Job took a ladle and scooped up a little of the goopy pasta and brung it to his mouth. Quickly shoving it expecting the worse.  
"Hey. This is rather good. For a change."  
After twenty minutes of gorging himself silly with Bianca's pasta dish, Job decided it was time to share the wealth. He took a bowl of the still warm food and knocked on Lisa's door. He was rather surprised to hear her respond.  
"Come in."  
The teen opened the door and hesitantly poked his head inside, just to make sure she wasn't waiting to throw an object at him. Seeing that the coast was clear, he proceeded to enter all the way.  
Lisa was sitting on her bed. Since discovering that they possessed much of the same powers, they dampened a lot of their telepathic abilities so they could each have some type of privacy, even in each others company. But the strong emotions Lisa was emitting couldn't help but seep into his own. But he was also to detect a sense of calm. As much a sense of acceptance then of the usual 'putting up the walls'.  
"Well, I guess one of us has to start somewhere. And I need someone to talk to and it looks like you're the closest type of person I could have," Lisa patted the bed. "Sit down, please."  
Job for a change, did as he was told. As he sat on the edge, he handed her the still warm pasta. She gratefully took it and set it on her nightstand. Then she looked him squarely in the eyes.  
"You must promise never to tell anybody what I'm about ready to tell you. Not even Bianca. I don't want her getting into any weird situations. Got it?"  
Job nodded.  
An emotional Lisa took a deep breath and began her story of how late last year, she had met a handful of teenagers who called themselves the Tomorrow People. She told them of the adventures she had with them and the friends she had made over the first few months.  
Job was in awe. "There are others like me. I have to find them!"  
Lisa was in the teen's face instantly. "No! You must never find them."  
The confused look on the brown-skinned boy's face was very evident to her. But she held her ground.  
"If I tell you anymore, you must promise not to contact them."  
"How can I make a promise like that to you? All my life I've been trying to figure out why I'm like this and now I have the chance to meet others like me and...."  
Lisa interrupted. "I just don't want you getting hurt. Or killed."  
Job felt deflated. To have within his grasp the answers he had been seeking for the past year and to be told that he couldn't access them. He stared hard at his friend of six months.  
"I didn't think you cared. You should let me make up my own mind on this, just as I'm sure they let you make up your mind on whether to stay with them or not."  
A look that reminded Job of a mouse getting caught with its paws in the cheese appeared on Lisa's face.  
"Well, remember what I told you about Col. Masters? After our first encounter with him, General Damon launched an immediate search for him. Checking all his known hangouts and sanctuaries, but it turned up nothing. We all searched for him for awhile ourselves but with no luck. Well, we figured that if he couldn't be found, then we were safe. How wrong we were."  
Lisa took a deep breath, remembering the day and time that she fought so hard to keep within.  
"About two months later in early February, he came back. But this time he had a type of weapon that could take our powers away. He was keeping Kevin, Megabyte and my mother hostage and Adam, General Damon and I went to get them out. The Colonel was keeping them hostage at a secret hideaway in Virginia. I think he had gone mad. Because no matter what the General did, Masters didn't want to hear any of it. He kept going on about how they would kill him if he let us live and how they would punish him. The General kept asking him who it was that was putting the pressure on him but then he just started shooting up in the air. One of the bullets must have ricochet because at that moment my mother clutched at her chest. Col Masters turned to me and told me that I would die with her. He aimed the gun at me but my mother got in the way. Adam managed to kinetically take the gun from him and the General fought with him. But because of the noise and vibrations from all the ruckus, the cave was starting to collapse. The others couldn't help."  
"I don't understand, why didn't you use your healing powers to help your mother?"  
A quick emotion of intense anger crossed Lisa's face at being interrupted again. Job apologized as she continued her story.  
"We found out later on that the weapon the Colonel had used against us was of a type of radiation that was mutated. It's called Barlumin. Originally it was only supposed to take telepathic abilities away for a little while. But in this instance it effected all of us quite differently."  
Job was fully into the story. "In what way?"  
"For starters, it took away most of Adam's and Megabyte's powers including healing abilities. Well, not all at once. But weakened them considerably to not be able to help my mother after she was shot. Kevin was unconscious and it was up to me to keep the cave from falling on top of us."  
A puzzled look crossed Job's face. "But I thought it was supposed to take your powers away. How did you keep the cave from falling in if you just got shot by it?"  
"I don't know! I'm no scientist!" Lisa shouted.  
Lisa in desperation put her hands to her head, as if trying to block out the memory. Shaking uncontrollably. Job tried to put a comforting arm around her but she quickly shrugged it off.  
"A specialist who works with General Damon named Aisha Jackson said that it was partially the real thing. Quite a bit of it was synthesized, which made it totally unpredictable. The ray took everybody elses powers away but somehow increased most of mine. My telekinetics and telepathy were strengthened so much, that I had a hard time keeping control of them. By the time we got outside, I couldn't take it anymore and I lost consciousness. I came to thirty minutes later on a chopper that was taking us to the nearest hospital."  
Lisa turned away from the brown-skinned teen.  
"General Damon told me that Adam and Megabyte had done all they could to bring my mother back. But they were too weak. All I could think of was shoving Damon out of my way to get to my mother. I placed my hands on her and they were glowing such a bright red. I wanted to heal her and I screamed at her to come back."  
The tears were streaming down from her red-stained eyes. Choking back the words that she didn't want to say. Job was feeling a hotness in his face as he could only listen to Lisa's tragic tale.  
"I remember Adam putting his hands on my shoulders urging me to stop. I remember kinetically flinging him all the way to the back of the copter."  
Lisa could only stare at the picture on her nightstand. The one of herself and her mother, taken at a park last fall.  
"I couldn't save her," she said quietly.  
A tense silence permeated the air as Job fully took in words that Lisa had just spoken. But for some strange reason, he felt that he could still understand exactly where she was coming from.  
"About a week later, we found out that Col Masters had survived. Supposedly he was to go to Leavenworth until the General and others could figure out what to do with him. But somehow, he was lost in transit. General Damon had all his teams on the lookout searching for him. No dice. Even a special organization like World Ex is burdened with paperwork and the 'usual procedures, so I decided to leave. The last person I talked to out of the group was Kevin and that was almost two months ago."  
Lisa watched as the next question she was expecting from him started to appear on Job's face. Heard the question in his mind.  
"You're very loud. But my reasoning is with all the powers I had, I couldn't even save the one person in all the world that I cherished. What good are they?"  
Job studied Lisa's eyes and saw something that seemed very familiar to him. Lisa seemed to catch on to his emotion and quickly got up from the bed and went towards the door before he had a chance to say what was on his mind.  
"Where are you going?"  
"I don't want to be here when you leave me. I can't really stop you from seeking them out. But that doesn't mean I have to be here when you disappear from my life. Even if I have been treating you kinda shabby since I met you, I have to admit that you've been a decent friend."  
Before Job could say anything, she walked out the room, leaving the door open. He could only sit on the bed for a long while, pondering what to do next.  
***  
Job opened the patio door leading out to the balcony. Lisa was in the same spot she usually was when contemplating life. He felt her emotions leaking out, including the one pinprick of negative that he had been feeling for the past two months just before she abruptly left the room. A slight darkness, which seemed to have been growing ever so slowly.  
"Okay Lisa. I won't try to contact them. For now anyway. But I want to know something. You think that whoever has the Colonel is here in New York, don't you? Are you looking for revenge, Lisa?"  
Lisa looked the younger man intently in the eye. "I could care less if I never see that bastard again. He took everything that I held dear and destroyed them. But he won't destroy me. And I have no intention on seeing him destroy anybody else's life. If I hear of him, I'll let the General know."  
"When? Before or after you've had your way with him?"  
"What kind of a question is that?" Lisa barked back. "For your information, telepaths like us cannot kill."  
"Revenge doesn't have to be killing the man, Lisa. I just don't want you doing something that you'll regret later on."  
"I won't," Lisa responded quickly. But there had been times since her abilities had increased that she had felt a subtle change in her attitude and demeanor. Nothing of major consequence, but there were times when she felt that a good beating would do wonders for some people. Where as even before she came into her powers, most of the time she would try to talk people out of a confrontation.  
Maybe it was why she was talking to Job right now. She had to admit, that there were times that she felt like she was using the slightly younger teen. Having him teach her about her abilities. There limits and potential. Yet, she had given nothing back to him. It had taken awhile but she had come to the realization that only Job would truly understand what she was going through. And the smart, sane part of her agreed, albeit reluctantly, that she had needed to talk about her feelings with somebody.  
"Maybe that's why I'm talking to you Job. You're the only one who could possibly understand me, but at the same time hasn't associated with the others."  
"Yet," he reminded her.  
Lisa turned around, a semi-relieved smile on her face. "Don't take it personally roomy. It's just going to take me awhile to get close to anybody. Especially to someone who's like me. I'm pretty much my own worse enemy right now and I would only be taking it out on you. At least for the foreseeable future. But I do value your friendship."  
"Then maybe we should take this search one day at a time," Job added stressing the 'we' part.  
Lisa nodded. "Like I said, I'm here to go to school. If I happen to hear anything about him, then I'll notify the others. But my main concern is living out as normal a life as possible."  
"Well, don't forget to work on yourself as well. You can't keep blaming yourself because you survived. I'm sure your mother wouldn't want you destroying the rest of your life because of an incident you had no control over."  
Lisa reigned in her emotions and took a sideways glance at her roommate. The way Job had phrased his words, it was obvious he had been around somebody who had gone through similar. It was possible that Bianca could have told him something similar from her life. They had been roommates for awhile before she had arrived in New York. But the subdueness of his body and haunted look in his eyes suggested to her that he just as easily could've been talking about himself.  
What did she know about Job anyway? Most of the time he put on a happy, devil-may-care attitude and a very self-assured cockiness that at times infuriated her. This had been his apartment before Bianca had moved in. In the past six months of living here, she never noticed any type of family visit him and never really heard him mention any. Looking at him now, he was so very serious. It was a side of him that she never saw before.  
Well, when he's ready, he'll tell me.  
"So does that mean that we can still have the obligatory before-bedtime snack with the rest of the gang later on?"  
A slight smile formed on her lips. "As long as you're buying."  
Job walked past her and opened the door leading inside.  
"Well, we'll see about that."  
Lisa smiled as Job went inside to grab his backpack. She knew that Job was no fool. Yet he still let her live in his apartment and seeked her company. She couldn't understand why, after all the jerky times she had treated him. But there was a part of her, way deep down that he could possibly be her salvation. Because even though she desperately wanted to live a normal life, there was another part of her that wanted to give that Col Masters some type of payback. And she was very scared of what would happen if that day ever came. It was just possible, that if she opened herself up to people that cared for her, she wouldn't have to be too scared anymore.  
"You ready?" Job asked, reaching out with his hand.  
Lisa gazed at the proffered hand for a bit before finally grasping it firmly.  
"Yeah, we can race there."  
"Loser buys," Job said.  
"Oh no," Lisa corrected. "Loser has to eat Bianca's leftovers from a couple days ago while watching 'Ren and Stimpy."  
"Eeeww! You really are a sick person Lisa."  
A very authentic smile appeared on her features as she closed the apartment door behind her.  
THE END


End file.
